- Armenia: Ruling party wins landslide election victory
Source: France 24 [French state media]
“Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s ruling party has won parliamentary elections, preliminary results showed on Monday, a victory seen as endorsement of the nation’s pro-Western shift after threats from Moscow and claims of Russian interference. Pashinyan’s push to forge closer ties with the West and move Armenia out of the orbit of its former imperial ruler has angered the Kremlin and drawn rebukes from President Vladimir Putin. The election comes after years of turmoil since Pashinyan was swept to power in a 2018 street revolution.” (06/07/26)
https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20260607-armenia-pm-heads-for-win-to-cement-westward-shift
- Secret Service announces plans to harass NBA fans
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“Road closures, no watch parties, bag bans and a gauntlet of security measures will greet fans when they arrive at Madison Square Garden for Game 3 of the NBA Finals, as United States President Donald Trump descends on the heart of Manhattan to watch the New York Knicks play the San Antonio Spurs at home. The Knicks have defied the odds to build a 2-0 head start in the best-of-seven series before their first home game of the finals on Monday. … ‘Attendees should anticipate hard street closures in the immediate area surrounding Madison Square Garden,’ Secret Service Chief of Communications Anthony Guglielmi said. ‘A strict no-bag policy will be enforced, and we want to communicate that early and broadly so fans can plan accordingly. Attendees should also expect Secret Service-level security screening, similar to airport screening procedures.'” (06/08/26)
- CA: Nithya Raman leaps past Spencer Pratt in tight race to make LA mayoral runoff
Source: NBC News
“Los Angeles City Council member Nithya Raman, a Democrat, has taken a narrow lead for second place over former reality TV star Spencer Pratt, a registered Republican, in the race to take on Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass in a runoff this fall. NBC News projected Bass’[s] advancing to the runoff last week, but the outstanding question, as the city and the state continue counting ballots, is whom she will face and what kind of matchup that will be. NBC News hasn’t projected the winner of the other spot in the runoff. … Los Angeles still has more than 100,000 votes left to count.” (06/07/26)
- Israeli, Iranian regimes exchange strikes in most serious escalation since April ceasefire
Source: Associated Press
“Israel and Iran traded fire early Monday in retaliatory strikes that threatened to drag the wider Middle East back into a full-scale regional war. Yemen’s Houthi rebels [sic] also fired at Israel and warned they would target Israel-affiliated ships in the Red Sea, further escalating tension. The renewed threat comes as Saudi Arabia is relying on its East-West Pipeline to export oil out through the Red Sea as an alternative to the Strait of Hormuz. … Tehran had warned of retaliation after Israel struck Beirut’s southern suburbs without warning earlier Sunday in defiance of Washington’s request days ago to stand down.” (06/08/26)
https://apnews.com/live/iran-war-israel-lebanon-trump-06-08-2026
- Peru: Presidential election result close as vote counting continues
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“Peru’s presidential election is stuck in a statistical tie, according to an early tally by the pollster Ipsos, echoing previous elections that have dragged on for days or even weeks. It put the left-wing Roberto Sánchez on a marginal lead of 50.3% of the vote, compared with the right-wing Keiko Fujimori on 49.7%. While not an official count, the tally has been an accurate indicator of the final result in previous polls. Official results confirm the race is extremely tight with more than 85% of votes counted. The election pits Fujimori, a mainstay of Peruvian politics, against Sánchez, who is promising broad economic reforms. Concerns over crime and political instability have dominated the race.” (06/08/26)
- Bitcoin Steadies After $60,000 Breach as Saylor Hints at Buying
Source: Yahoo! Finance
“Bitcoin steadied in Monday trading after dropping below $60,000 late last week as Strategy Inc. Chairman Michael Saylor hinted at further purchases. The original cryptocurrency climbed as much as 3.8% to nearly $64,200 and was trading around $63,000 at 7 a.m. in London. Ether, the second-largest token, was 2% firmer at around $1,660. … Strategy’s disclosure of a small sale, its first since 2022, contributed to the token’s 18% decline last week as it undermined the narrative that the digital-asset treasury firm would never sell. A social-media post from Saylor suggesting Strategy may announce more Bitcoin buying has helped to soothe market nerves.” (06/08/26)
https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/crypto/articles/bitcoin-steadies-60-000-breach-060839854.html
- European pols ready to support ceasefire talks between Ukrainian, Russian regimes
Source: AOL
“The leaders [sic] of Britain, Germany and France said on Sunday they supported a proposal for talks between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Russian President Vladimir Putin to try to secure a ceasefire, and Europe would play a role. … Zelenskiy said in a post on X that he also told Starmer Ukraine needed more missiles for air defence systems, just days after he published an open letter to Putin proposing face-to-face talks about ending the war, now in its fifth year. Zelenskiy’s proposal was rebuffed by the Russian president.” (06/07/26)
https://www.aol.com/articles/zelenskiy-london-talks-starmer-macron-190153000.html
- US attorney’s office in California announces probe into elections
Source: Washington Post
“The Los Angeles U.S. attorney’s office said it has opened ‘multiple election fraud investigations,’ claiming the California election system has ‘serious structural vulnerabilities.’ First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli, whose office is also attempting to audit the state voter rolls, confirmed the investigation late Friday and vowed to follow the evidence where it leads. The nature and status of the probes federal prosecutors might be pursuing in California was not immediately clear. Essayli did not elaborate on the nature of the investigations he said he’d launched and did not refer to any evidence suggesting that fraud had occurred.” (06/06/26)
- We’re Freaking Doomed without Freedom from State Rule
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by George Ford Smith“For now, at least, we know what computers can and cannot do. Whatever their limitations, it is clear their development is on an exponential path, and any shortcomings will be short-lived. … The combination of these strengths will be formidable, to say the least. And these strengths will continue to grow exponentially. It’s quite possible this technology could become the exclusive domain of the state, the only organization that ‘legitimately’ acquires its revenue by theft, which it enforces with a vengeance. Despite its elaborate pretensions and propaganda, the state, by its nature, is the enemy of the people, as all criminals are.” (06/08/26)
https://mises.org/mises-wire/were-freaking-doomed-without-freedom-state-rule
- Trump Is Doing What FDR Could Not
Source: Foreign Policy
by Julian E Zelizer“To understand the hold that Trump has on his party, it is useful to look back to the 1938 midterms, when Franklin D. Roosevelt — one of the most consequential presidents in U.S. history — failed to keep his party on the same page. When Roosevelt tried to purge the Democratic Party of conservative Southern legislators who were holding back his New Deal, the president found himself on the losing end of the battle, empowering the very forces he was trying to stop. … The irony, though, is that, despite his defeat in 1938, Roosevelt ultimately helped build a far more enduring Democratic coalition. … Trump, by contrast, has tied his party to a deeply unpopular leader and agenda.” (06/08/26)
- The Bulldozer Revolution: A Blueprint For American Meddling in Eastern Europe
Source: Libertarian Institute
by Patrick Pillow“By the summer of 2000, Yugoslav President Slobodan Milošević appeared firmly entrenched in power. A decade earlier, he had risen to prominence by harnessing Serbian nationalism as Yugoslavia began to fracture. Over time, he consolidated control over political institutions and much of the media while leading Serbia through wars, sanctions, and NATO’s 1999 bombing campaign. Yet beneath the surface, public frustration was growing. The economy was struggling, unemployment remained high, and many Serbians had grown weary of international isolation and authoritarian rule. When Milošević changed election rules in July 2000 to allow the presidency to be decided by popular vote, he likely expected another victory. Instead, the move created an opportunity for a united opposition.” (06/08/26)
- Lookin’ Out Your Backdoor
Source: The American Conservative
by Bill Kauffman“Say the powers-that-be determine to site something truly noxious == a radioactive waste dump, a halfway house for child molesters, a data center — in your neighborhood. (These almost inevitably will be government projects or enabled by corporate welfare and subsidies to developers.) You protest. Instead of meeting your sincere remonstrations with arguments, you will be sneeringly called a NIMBY — a Not in My Backyard obstructionist. This epithet can be disorienting. Not in My Backyard? Well, yeah—not in my backyard. What’s wrong with caring about my backyard?” (06/08/26)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/lookin-out-your-backdoor/
- Gaza and its people may not survive this phase of ceasefire
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Omar Shaban Ismail“By corralling millions of Palestinians into 30% of the former strip, Netanyahu is making life there untenable. For hardliners, this is all part of the plan.” (06/08/26)
- The One War Trump Is Winning Is the One Against Us
Source: The Daily Beast
by David Rothkopf“Trump may not be able to beat Iran, but he sure is kicking the crap out of America.” (06/07/26)
https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-one-war-donald-trump-is-winning-is-the-one-against-us/
- Inside the Anti-Tech Rebellion In Schools
Source: Persuasion
by Nicholas Smith“The average parent of a young American child is now a Millennial. They remember growing up with technology, with computer class, with laptops in high school. They have cellphones, use the internet, and may even work in tech or communications. They have concerns about technology but are happy to incorporate it into their family life when it makes sense. However, they are often deeply shocked when they find out that their 4 year-old is about to be given a Chromebook or an iPad upon entry to kindergarten. They think: isn’t that a little young? They discover that this is now common practice. According to 2022 data, 73% of K-2 classrooms have a 1-to-1 device policy. They ask: Who made this decision?” (06/07/26)
https://www.persuasion.community/p/inside-the-anti-tech-rebellion-in
- The Difference Between LGBT and Queer is a Revolutionary One
Source: exile in happy valley
by Nicky Reid“The harsh reality is that while Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender are each specific categories of people who are traditionally Queer, ‘LGBT’ itself is more of a brand than an identity. It is a label used to market these sexual and/or gender minorities to straight people for mainstream consumption. Liberals love it because it’s clean and neat and hyper-specific. Everybody gets a letter and every letter fits into a consumer-friendly box.” (06/07/26)
https://exileinhappyvalley.blogspot.com/2026/06/the-difference-between-lgbt-and-queer.html
- How the cult of mental health created Generation Jobless
Source: spiked
by Linda Murdoch“Young people have been socialised to see themselves as vulnerable, fragile and incapable of hard graft.” (06/07/26)
https://www.spiked-online.com/2026/06/07/how-the-cult-of-mental-health-created-generation-jobless/
- Economic Calculation and the Vaccine Industry
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Jeffrey A Tucker“The cacophony for and against vaccines – even what is a vaccine is in broad dispute – has reached new level of deafening absurdity. There isn’t just one rabbit hole but hundreds. Compliance is tanking, which is what one would expect after brutal mandates and ubiquitous injury and death. Meanwhile, pharma bots are dominating social media to shame dissidents, while legacy media turns news pages into nonstop shot-and-pill advertising. Everyone is left with questions about whom to trust and what is true. Several states have already seceded from the CDC’s own attempt to change the childhood schedule even slightly. That’s how contentious this issue has become. My thesis: this epistemic nihilism is born of the deliberate subversion of economic signaling systems that would otherwise reveal inconvenient truths.” (06/07/26)
https://brownstone.org/articles/economic-calculation-and-the-vaccine-industry/
- We Don’t Need AI to Tell Us Donald is a Red
Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L Knapp“By virtually any metric, Trump is devoted to central economic planning and government control of American industry. To, that is, socialism. What separates him from other, actually admitted, socialists like [US Senator Bernie] Sanders and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani isn’t that they’re any more or less committed to ‘socialism,’ it’s the specific TYPE of socialism.” (06/07/26)
- Is Japan a Libertarian Paradise? Not Quite.
Source: Reason
by Lloyd Botway“After a trip to Japan, tourists often return dazzled by the beauty of the land, the politeness of the people, the safety of the cities, the world-class transportation systems, and the delicious food. Many also come away with the impression that Japan enjoys a high degree of economic and personal freedom. Construction flourishes. Businesses thrive. Goods from all over the world are available, and shopping seems to be a national pastime. Homeless people are nowhere to be seen. People travel freely throughout the country. But behind Japan’s economic success lies a government and a legal system that clearly prioritize social stability and group harmony over individual rights.” (06/07/26)
https://reason.com/2026/06/07/is-japan-a-libertarian-paradise-not-quite/
- The Russia-China Partnership Was Made in America
Source: The American Conservative
by Ted Galen Carpenter“Last month’s summit meeting between Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping — during which the leaders signed over 40 cooperation agreements and deepened their nations’ strategic partnership — provides just the latest sign that diplomatic, economic, and military cooperation between Russia and China is robust and continues to rise. That trend is profoundly distressing to political and media elites in the United States, most of whom are fervent defenders of America’s fading global hegemony. But they can hardly claim that Russian–Chinese cooperation was unforeseeable, considering Washington’s own clumsy and inept policies have been its chief cause, as many warned would be the case. Hostile measures that successive, post-Cold War U.S. administrations pursued toward Moscow virtually drove Russia into Beijing’s arms.” (06/07/26)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/the-russia-china-partnership-was-made-in-america/
- Two Open Source Solutions for Technocratic Control
Source: Agorist Nexus
by TechLibre“The noose tightens. Not with a bang, but with a thousand small cuts—social credit scores, ISP blacklists, library book bans, and the quiet revocation of property rights on devices you thought you owned. The technocratic state doesn’t need to kick down your door. It just needs you to keep renting your knowledge, your books, and your attention from its approved vendors. That’s where these reviews come in. I’ve tested two open source tools that let you opt out of the surveillance economy and build your own infrastructure. One is a terabyte-sized fire hose of offline knowledg — Wikipedia, Khan Academy, medical references, maps, and optional local AI. The other is a quiet, essential tool for anyone who remembers when buying a book actually meant owning it. Neither requires a subscription. Neither phones home. Neither asks permission.” (06/07/26)
https://www.agoristnexus.com/two-open-source-solutions-for-technocratic-control/
- The Surveillance State Found Its Philosopher
Source: Libertarian Institute
by Thomas Karat“There is a line in the Fourth Amendment that was supposed to settle this. The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures shall not be violated, and no warrant shall issue but upon probable cause. It is not a suggestion. It does not contain an exception for emergencies, for terrorism, for immigration, or for your own good. It was written by men who had watched a government treat a population as a thing to be catalogued, and who meant to draw a line that no administration could cross no matter how frightened the public could be made to feel. That line is being erased right now, not by a vote and not by an amendment, but by a software contract. And the man holding the pen spent his academic career studying exactly how this happens.” (06/05/26)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/the-surveillance-state-found-its-philosopher
- Israel Could Solve Its PR Problem By Simply Ceasing To Be Evil
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone“Israel’s +972 Magazine reports that the Israeli military establishment has launched a training program designed to ‘influence public consciousness’ around the world, with courses aimed at training hundreds of operatives per year in strategies for ‘actively disrupting or manipulating the beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors of target audiences.’ … It’s such a trip how Zionists just take it as a given that the only way to improve public perception of Israel is to ramp up efforts to manipulate the thoughts people think about it. They never give serious attention to the possibility that Israel would have a lot more public approval if it stopped fucking murdering innocent civilians all the time and fucking torturing people and raping captives with trained rape dogs. Israel can’t possibly be wrong; only our thoughts about Israel can be wrong.” (06/06/26)
- Trita Parsi on The Scott Horton Show
Source: The Scott Horton Show
“Trita Parsi on Where Things Stand Between Trump and the Iranians.” (06/07/26)
- Pink Flame of Liberty, 06/07/26
Source: Pink Flame of Liberty
“Let’s Watch the June 7, 2026 LNC Meeting.” (06/07/26)
- Fountainhead Forum, episode 456
Source: Fountainhead Forum
“Jayant Bhandari on the decline of India and the West.” (06/07/26)
https://rumble.com/v7awm1y-ff-456-jayant-bhandari-on-the-decline-of-india-and-the-west.html
- Serious Trouble, 06/05/26
Source: Serious Trouble
“Those 35 retired judges are bending Judge Kathleen Williams’s ear; Randolph Moss 86’es the National Park Service’s 86ing of 8647 signage; is it illegal to text Shrek’s dick to a State Senator?” (06/05/26)
https://www.serioustrouble.show/p/this-shrek-film-was-not-in-theaters